This is the view from inside the Antwerp train station, coming up from the depths of the modern platforms. From the outside one can see the magnificent, baroque, historic (well, turn on the 20th century) structure, which I failed to take a picture of, pushing a suitcase as I was, but you can learn about this most beautiful train station from Wikipedia and get a sense of its significance from W G Sebald’s novel Austerlitz.
All of these were shot at the Place de Brouckere in Brussels, shortly before we left. I’m guessing it looked rather different in Django’s time. Click any image to see them bigger (if you’re seeing this in email you may need to click the post title, above, first).
Bruges is famous, of course, for its canals, laden with sightseeing boats.
A few more postcard-type pictures of architecture and street scenes around Bruges.
We took the train to Bruges for a day. It’s a beautiful city with scarcely a modern structure to interrupt the ancient lines. However it was absolutely rotten with tourists dawdling and gawking about, making many of the streets impassable and forcing one into pathetic tourist impostures oneself. As a friend of mine from Antwerp commented, “nobody from Belgium goes to Bruges – it’s for tourists.” Or, as Yogi Berra is reported to have said, “nobody goes there anymore – it’s too crowded.”
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The last couple of shots in Ghent.
A few more shots of interesting buildings and streets we walked around Ghent.
While in Ghent, we visited this historic cathedral. Click any image to see them large (click post title, above, first if that’s not working).
Some of the architecture and people we saw on our day in Ghent. Click any of the images above to see them all enlarged (you may need to click on the post title, above, first if you’re seeing this in an email).
We visited the Museum of Contemporary Art. I photographed some items I found particularly compelling, particularly if I could find an artistic shot to take, rather than a simple deadpan documentation, continued my series on the geometric spaces in museums, found mirrors in which to photograph myself, and was introduced to Grace Ndiritu, who we would see again in Antwerp.
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Massive map on a sheet of glass on either side of the building. For some context, see the picture below:
Part of the Royal Gallery of Saint Hubert this arcade is almost 200 years old
Reflecting the Maison de la Dynastie Bruxelles and showing through to the Palais Moderne.
Here are examples of those de rigeur snaps one feels one has to take but that you can easily buy better postcard versions of or look up in a guide book. Needless to say, my casual travel zoom (16-55mm or 24-83 equivalent) was not up to the 360º challenge, nor was I carrying a tripod or a gimbal. The first picture uses the panoramic sweep feature of my camera to get about 180º. Even trying to fix the perspective in post proved quite a challenge on several of these. The Grand-Place, or Grote Markt, as the Flemish call it is a magnificent, historical square that has been a UNESCO world heritage site for the last 25 years. Read all about it on Wikipedia. Click any of the pictures above to see them all at full-size (if you’re seeing this in an email you may need to click the post title above to get to the web-site first.)
While we have been round the castle keep several times, the palace itself is only open for touring on Wednesdays. We finally took the £5 tour which was quite interesting, covering the long history of the castle and its occupants and architecture. Naturally, I took a bunch of pictures along the way. Click the images to see them full sized (if viewing in email, you may need to click the post title first to open the web site).
